Governor Says Health Insurance Mandate Not Good For Missouri

As a United States Supreme Court decision on healthcare looms, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon broke with his party on a key part of the legislation. Nixon says an individual insurance mandate is not good for Missouri.

Speaking at ceremonial bill signing in St. Louis, Governor Nixon sounded more like a Republican when he asked about the Supreme Court’s impending health care ruling.

Referring to it the “Washington Healthcare Law” Nixon spoke out against the key ingredient of President Obama’s signature legislation—the individual mandate.

“I think I’ve been pretty clear…that the health insurance mandate is not something that I think is a good thing,” Nixon said. “Without going into great detail, having the government you order you to buy something like that is not something that in the past I’ve supported.”

Nixon is up for re-election this year.

Last summer, Missouri voters approved a referendum, by a vote of 71 to 29 percent, rejecting the law’s individual insurance mandate.

This fall, voters in Missouri will face a number of decisions: picking state and congressional representatives, the President. But also on the ballot will be a measure that like two years ago, has to do with the federal health law.

In its second-to-last argument over the Affordable Care Act, the Supreme Court on Wednesday ponders a what-if.

Specifically, if the justices decide that Congress exceeded its constitutional authority in enacting the part of the law that requires most Americans to either have health insurance starting in 2014 or pay a penalty, does that invalidate the rest of the law? And if not, how much, if any, of the rest of the law should it strike down?

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week over key aspects of President Obama's health care law, including the expansion of Medicaid and whether the court even had the right to hear the case. But the core of the challenge mounted against the Affordable Care Act hinges upon its individual mandate, which requires almost every American to have or buy health insurance.